1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing games and contests which are presented to a television audience.
2. Description of Related Art
Games are one form of recreation that can be enjoyed by many people at the same time. Games and game shows promoted by the media in particular enjoy large, diverse audiences who can participate in the game at home, in the privacy of their living rooms. For example, radio stations often conduct contests. Some radio disc jockeys ask listeners to call in to name the last twenty or so songs played on the particular station. The first winning caller may then win prizes such as money.
Other games which use different forms of the media can be conducted similarly to radio games. Crossword puzzles, for example, are a type of game promoted through the news media, i.e., newspapers. However, today, television appears to be the most far-reaching public medium. Games and contests promoted by television means have been found to be extremely popular and successful. Particularly, since the format and content of television game shows can be designed to accommodate a specific audience, television overall generally enjoys larger audiences than the two previously mentioned forms of the media.
For example, a television game show may be broadcast during prime time television hours between six and seven o'clock weekdays. The production of such television shows, however, tends to be expensive and requires extensive sponsorship for prizes and other production-related costs. One way to reduce costs is to avoid producing an entire television game show to conduct a game and, instead, conducting the game between television programs and the sponsors' commercial breaks. Not only are the costs to publicly broadcast the game minimized, but viewership of both the primary programs and the commercials can be significantly increased.
In order to find new clues to answer the game, viewers must watch the commercials and are thus discouraged from immediately changing television channels when a commercial break begins. Such switching of channels upon the appearance of a commercial break is commonly referred to as "zapping" the commercials. Most likely this term arises from the fact that, today, many homes have televisions equipped with remote control systems which allow viewers to easily move in and out of any television broadcast with merely a "zap" of the remote control.
Because of the tendency for viewers to zap commercials, program sponsors endeavor to produce creative, captivating commercials that will maintain the interest and attention of the particular audience to which the primary broadcast program is directed. For instance, sugared cereal and snack food companies may sponsor commercials which are to be aired during animated cartoon programs on Saturday mornings. During televised sporting events, one may view athletic shoe or alcoholic beverage advertisements. Typically, sponsors will target a particular program that will attract an audience who is likely to be in the market for the sponsor's product.
However, viewers may eventually grow weary of watching the same commercials and zap the commercials to watch other substantive programming. Thus, although it would seem that young teenagers would enjoy watching a commercial reflecting the wild life of a young snowboarder skydiving and parachuting onto a snowy mountain to glide off into the sunset, the young audience may become disinterested or bored with the commercial after watching it a few times. Instead, the audience may zap the commercial and change the channel to watch another teen-oriented program.
Such zapping is often the bane of many sponsors since it defeats the primary purpose for which many sponsors purchase air time. Generally, private sponsorship of most television programs is necessary for television broadcasting. Television networks sell commercial air time to outside sponsors to support the costs of producing and broadcasting the program. Air time is sold by the second, with the values of each second being variable according to the nature of the substantive program during which the commercial will be aired. For example, commercial time during a championship football game is typically more expensive than during a badminton match. The pricing theory is relatively simple. The more viewers watch the main television program, the more viewers will continue to watch the commercials. These viewers will then, either consciously or subconsciously, recognize the sponsors' commercial advertisements and, as a consequence, the sponsors' businesses will benefit.
In an attempt to encourage viewers to watch commercials, one publicity promoter has developed a contest which is conducted during commercial time slots. A different contest is conducted each week. In one example, when a certain program which is aired from eight to nine o'clock each week night is interrupted for a commercial break, a mascot or animal will appear and give some type of clue or hint. The clues will generate a sequence of words which form a phrase or another hint. At the end of the week an address is announced during one of the commercials. The viewers can then mail in their answers to the game. The winning viewers receive prizes or may be entered in some sort of drawing.
One drawback to such a television game, however, is inherent in the use of television air time as a means to convey a message. Television air time is typically very expensive. Particularly, since commercial time is sold in blocks of seconds, rather than individual seconds, the cost to broadcast each commercial can become quite expensive due to a minimum time requirement. For instance, in the above example of the television commercial game, the period of time for each contest spot, or commercial, ranges from seven to ten seconds. However, since the words or clues may actually only require one to two seconds of time, the remaining five to nine seconds may be very expensive wasted time. In addition, substantive programs are typically designed to fit within a specified amount of air time with a definite amount of time allotted for sponsor-paid commercial breaks. If some of the air time allotted for commercial breaks is used for unpaid commercial games, the broadcaster will have less time to broadcast paid commercials.